As telecommunication carriers continue to invest in location infrastructure, a proliferation of location-based services is developing ranging from consumer services such as local search and mobile social networking to enterprise services such as fleet management and asset tracking.
The location of a mobile device is typically considered a high-value asset. Accordingly, it would be desirable to protect the process of initiating a location fix of a mobile device, receiving the location details, and disseminating this information. This process typically begins with accessing an API within the device execution environment or operating system, which in turn accesses hardware location determining resources on the device. Hardware location determining resources typically include a dedicated chipset, for example a dedicated GPS/A-GPS chipset, or a part of a multi-function chipset.
Further, it would be desirable to protect other resources available on a mobile device. A data store including contents of user's address book, contents of a user's contact list, or contents of a user's electronic message inbox, such an SMS or MMS inbox, for example, are often considered private or confidential by a user and necessary to be protected from unauthorized access.